The Democratic and Republican parties have warned that it could take weeks to decide the Nov. 2 election and have hired rival armies of attorneys and observers for the battle. \nWith US President George W. Bush and Democratic Senator John Kerry running neck-and-neck in opinion polls, both camps fear a repeat of the 2000 election debacle in Florida. \nKerry said on Sunday that he had put together a legal "dream team" to protect voter rights. \n"If it is a close election in any one state, it may be days or weeks before we know who the actual winner is," warned Tom Josefiak, general counsel for President Bush's campaign. \nIn Florida four years ago, a controversy erupted over punch-card ballots that often failed to clearly show which candidate's name was punched out. The confusion left the US without a clear election winner for 36 days until the Supreme Court, in a controversial 5 to 4 decision, halted a recount of Florida ballots. \nBush beat vice president Al Gore by 537 votes and the Florida result secured the presidency. \nThere are growing fears that the winner between Bush and Kerry will also not be announced on election night. \nProject Vote, a non-partisan organization, predicts a litany of lawsuits, notably regarding "provisional" ballots that allow people who are not sure whether they are registered to cast a vote, leaving authorities with the task of deciding whether the vote should be counted. \nLegal challenges could be filed against the accuracy of electronic voting machines that do not provide papers that could be used for a possible recount. \nThe Republican and Democratic parties will deploy tens of thousands of observers to monitor the election across the country and discourage attempts by both camps to intimidate voters. \nOn Sunday, Kerry said at an African American Baptist church in Ohio that he had put together a "voter protection dream team" of top lawyers to forestall vote fraud and disenfranchisement. \n"Let me just make clear to you, we are not going to let this be a repeat of 2000, we are not going to see a million African Americans deprived of their votes in America," he said. \nLawsuits contesting ballots, voter registration and voting machines have already been filed. \nElliot Mincberg, legal director of People for the American Way Foundation, said the early law-suits may help avoid post-poll challenges.
ARRANGEMENTS MADE: Sources told the ‘Liberty Times’ that Nancy Pelosi could visit the legislature tomorrow and she might also meet with President Tsai Ing-wen If US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi comes to Taiwan, she would likely arrive this evening or tomorrow morning after visiting Malaysia, a US analyst said yesterday. According to the China Press, a Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper, she is to arrive in Kuala Lumpur today for her second stop. Although the Malaysian government has not announced an official itinerary, the paper cited a person familiar with the plans as saying she would only stay for a few hours. Meanwhile, South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo’s office yesterday said he would meet with Pelosi on Thursday morning before holding a news conference and
LOSE-LOSE-LOSE SCENARIO: TSMC’s chairman told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria a military invasion would render TSMC factories inoperable and that it would also hurt China If China invades Taiwan there would be no winners and everyone would lose, and people should draw lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war, which is not good for either side, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) told CNN. The interview on the Fareed Zakaria GPS program on Sunday came at a time of heightened cross-strait tensions amid a potential visit to Taiwan by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “People in Taiwan have earned their democratic system and they want to choose their way of life,” Liu said in the interview. “Indeed, chip supply is a critical business
SCHEDULE: Nancy Pelosi was expected to visit the legislature for about an hour before speaking with democracy advocates at Jingmei Human Rights Park US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taipei last night and was reportedly scheduled to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), legislators and democracy advocates before departing later today. The speaker departed from Kuala Lumpur yesterday afternoon and touched down at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at about 10:43pm, where she was greeted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The stop marks the first time in 25 years that a sitting US House speaker is visiting Taiwan. Beijing has strongly condemned the visit, with Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) yesterday warning that the US “will
MIDWAY ACTIVITY: A source said that Chinese aircraft conducted tactical moves of briefly ‘touching’ the median line of the Taiwan Strait before circling back from it The Ministry of National Defense yesterday raised its combat alertness level until noon tomorrow in response to Chinese live-fire exercises ahead of a visit to Taiwan by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The alert is to be adjusted depending on the military threat from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), a source familiar with the matter said. However, the source added that combat readiness remains at “normal readiness” under the nation’s two-tier system and had not been raised to “emergency readiness.” Before Pelosi’s arrival yesterday, several Chinese warplanes flew close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait, another source told
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